MartiniVerse

The original logo of Happy Hour Films, from which the martini motif was derived.

The MartiniVerse is a fictional universe retroactively created by writer/director David Hilbun and later expanded with Victoria Breckinridge to tie together most of the movies created by Happy Hour Films (including those that were planned and/or scripted but never filmed) as well as the fictional timeline created by the Happy Hour team in the NationSim, and the fictional backstory Hilbun wrote for the Space Journey series. The name comes from the Happy Hour logo, which is that of a martini glass. The Marshall family, created by Breckinridge, features prominently throughout the MartiniVerse.

The MartiniVerse first came into being with For the Flag, when the main character of Sgt. Marcus Marshall was created as a reference to Rudolph Marshall (the cast and crew joked that the two were directly related, but this was never officially stated). Sepulcher continued this trend by naming Breckinridge's character Jean-Claude Marsalles, intended as a Gallicized version of the Marshall name; the unfilmed Sepulcher II would have starred Lt. Jack Marshall. Other reocurring characters included the characters in Drama at St. Nicholas Memorial (who were slated to reappear in the uncompleted sequel), and the cast of Space Journey. Additionally, Hilbun always intended for Dr. Radical to be the same character as Carlton Levy; Drama at St. Nicholas Memorial therefore would technically be the sequel to Fun With A Wheelchair.

Over time, Hilbun began to create a rough outline of how the characters from across Happy Hour's many different films would interact, but this remained as an in-joke for years. It was not until Breckinridge created a fake Wikipedia entry for Rudolph Marshall was Hilbun inspired to offically make the MartiniVerse canon.

Today, the MartiniVerse spans several dozen films and ideas, incorporating not only official films by Happy Hour, but independant projects by its members, unfilmed screenplays and backstories, and the NationSim timeline (which is intended to bridge the gap between actual history and the futuristic world of Space Journey.) Nearly every character created by the Happy Hour team has been incorporated to the MartiniVerse, and most future films are planned to be set within it, though the timeline of the fictional universe will not directly dictate what will happen in upcoming films so as not to limit creativity.